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A beautiful Bajoran woman, Pallra,
calls Quark to Bajor and persuades him to retrieve a strongbox
her late husband kept hidden on Deep Space Nine. He agrees,
unaware that a stranger named Trazko has observed their entire
interaction, with Pallra's knowledge. Later that night, Quark
and Rom sneak around the Promenade until they find the hidden
panel that conceals the strongbox. Quark opens the box and sees
that it only contains a list of Bajoran names. Suddenly, Trazko
appears, and Quark realizes that Pallra probably sent him.
Trazko takes the list from Quark and shoots him with a phaser,
apparently killing him and leaving a panic-stricken Rom shouting
for help.
While Bashir works frantically
to save Quark, Odo questions Rom about the robbery and attack.
Rom denies knowing what Trazko took from Quark, but when Odo
accuses him of killing his brother, he tells him about the list.
When Rom tells Odo the box was found on the site where the
station's old chemist's shop used to be, Odo flashes back to a
conversation he had with Gul Dukat five years earlier. The owner
of the shop, Vaatrick, was murdered, and Dukat essentially
forced Odo to investigate the killing. Odo questioned the dead
man's widow, Pallra, about her husband's death, but while he was
suspicious of her, she said her husband's alleged mistress
probably killed him in a jealous rage. That mistress, she said,
was Kira Nerys. Odo then comes out of the flashback and realizes
that the attack on Quark could be related to this still-unsolved
murder.
Odo tries to help Rom remember the names on the list. Rom can
only remember one, which he thinks is Ches'so, and Odo then asks
Kira if she knows the name. Kira says she does not, and Odo has
another flashback to the time he interrogated Kira about
Vaatrick. Kira denied the murder and the alleged affair, saying
only that she and Vaatrick were friends. Later, Odo became even
more suspicious when he spotted Dukat and Pallra kissing. This
feeling remains after his flashback ends, sending Odo to Bajor
to question Pallra about the list of names. She denies knowing
anything about it, and says she does not recognize the name
Ches'so. Odo then asks her how she found the money to pay her
power bill, telling her that he knows her power had been cut off
for non-payment. Pallra says a friend gave her the money but
refuses to identify him.
While Quark continues to fight for his life, Kira tells Odo that
she located Ches'so, whose real name is Ches'sarro, but that he
drowned mysteriously the previous evening. Sure that Pallra is
somehow involved, Odo orders a full examination of the man's
death as well as an investigation into Pallra's bank records.
Odo then has another flashback to when he first met Quark,
remembering that Quark told Odo that Kira paid him to say she
was at the bar the night Vaatrick was murdered. Sometime after
the flashback ends, Odo shows Sisko the list of Bajoran names,
which he compiled after looking through Pallra's communication
records. Since every man on the list apparently transferred
Bajoran currency into her account, Odo realizes that Pallra has
been blackmailing them by threatening to expose their
collaboration with the Cardassians.
Odo then flashes back to a conversation he had with Kira in
which he confronted her about paying Quark to be her alibi. Kira
once again insisted that she did not kill Vaatrick, but admitted
that she was a member of the Bajoran underground and had
sabotaged the ore processor the night he was killed. Since the
crime was punishable by death, Odo mentioned nothing of it when
Dukat entered the room, and simply told the Cardassian that Kira
was not their murderer. Back in the present, Trazko enters the
Infirmary with plans to finish Quark off, but Rom appears and
the two begin fighting. The melee is loud enough to attract
security, and Odo arrives to take Trazko to a holding cell.
Later, Odo arrests Pallra for blackmail, despite the realization
that Kira did kill Vaatrick that night five years ago — not
because they had an affair, but because he was a Cardassian
collaborator who caught her trying to steal the list. While he
has no intention of prosecuting her and — says they can remain
friends, both Odo and Kira realize the bond of trust between
them may be changed forever. |
